SFSC to provide relief for exempt market dealers
On January 14, the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission, the securities regulator for the province of Saskatchewan, announced that it will participate along with other "North Western" jurisdictions in making available certain trade-based registration exemptions to persons who would otherwise be required to register as exempt market dealers. As a result of the implementation of the new registration regime and National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements and Exemptions, trade-based registration exemptions that parallel prospectus exemptions available under National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus and Registration Exemptions are to be repealed on March 27, 2010.
Pursuant to a blanket order to be issued by the SFSC, an exemption from the EMD registration requirement will be made available for persons trading in securities in reliance on certain prospectus exemptions, including the "accredited investor" and the "minimum investment amount" exemptions under section 2.3 and section 2.10 of NI 45-106, provided the conditions set out in the blanket order are satisfied. Saskatchewan will be joining Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon Territory, whose regulators had previously announced their intention to issues similar blanket orders. The orders granting the exemption are anticipated to be issued on March 27, 2010.
For more information on the impact of the new registration regime on dealers trading in the exempt market, see our July 2009 publication: "Impact on Limited Market Dealers and Unregistered Dealers Trading in the Exempt Market".
